


Blue Sands

by StrongerThanAnySword



Category: Jupiter Ascending (2015), Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Genre: Crossover, Gen, Jupiter Ascending Fic Challenge, Multi, Other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-21
Updated: 2017-01-19
Packaged: 2018-05-15 07:00:05
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 5,941
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5776048
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StrongerThanAnySword/pseuds/StrongerThanAnySword
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>New Padawan Obi-Wan Kenobi and his Master, Qui-Gon Jinn, are on their way to the Denara System when they encounter a strange anomaly and a planet where no planet should be...</p><p>OR</p><p>...In an effort to see for herself what is left of the people Jupiter's inheritance let to her, she and Caine Wise have traveled to the planet of Kel'epp, where they meet two people where no people should be...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Crash Landing

"Master, I'm seeing something...odd."

"Yes."  Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn followed his Padawan's line of sight, frowning at the planet in the distance, at the slight disturbance around it, a bruise-colored rip in the void and the stars.  "I feel it."

Padawan Obi-Wan Kenobi shook his head and checked his maps a second time, a third time.  "This planet isn't on the maps Jedi Master Jocasta gave me, Master."

"Reach into the Force," his Master advised, shooting one last pensive look at the planet before turning from the freighter's window to look at his young pupil.  "What do you feel?"

"The planet is..." Obi-Wan struggled for words, brows furrowing.  "It feels...sad."  He dared an unsure glance up to his Master and was gratified by a small nod and a gently approving smile, tinged with melancholy.  Obi-Wan relaxed a fraction.   

"Yes, it does.  There is something very wrong about this world that even Madame Jocasta's maps do not know..."  

Before the elder could say anything else, a lurch shook the ship and sent both Jedi pitching across the space.  Qui-Gon barely kept his feet, swaying dangerously, and Obi-Wan slid into a bulkhead, groaning at the impact.  Another jolt had the Master down on one knee and the Padawan instinctively covering his head, and Qui-Gon looked up at the window to see that their approach toward the planet was beginning to speed up.

"Are you all right?"  Qui-Gon shifted to Obi-Wan's side gracefully and gently touched his shoulder, smiling in encouragement and offering a hand to his Padawan.

"Yes, Master," Obi-Wan said dutifully.  "What was that?"

"I'm not sure."  Qui-Gon hit the comm and called to the pilots.  "What's going on?"

"We're being pulled in, Master Jinn," a strained voice crackled back.  "Like a black hole, but we can't frakking see one, just that planet.  We've lost our bearings--"  Static ate the line for a moment before the pilot's voice cut back in.  "--ash landing.  Repeat, prepare for a crash landing, Master Jinn.  Copy?"

"We will, captain."  Qui-Gon's voice was soothing and even, and Obi-Wan marveled at his composure, even as his eyebrows furrowed in thought.

"Master?" he asked nervously.  He'd never been in a crash before.  

Qui-Gon's eyes turned to him and he smiled.  "It's all right, Padawan.  Let's hurry to the belts and get locked in."

The lights dimmed to a soft red and the sirens began.  Obi-Wan did not hurry so much as run, Qui-Gon following behind.


	2. Smoke Signals

A fine, blue grit covered every inch of the ground, small enough to blow in the wind, creating small whirls of blue before collapsing back into the rest of it.  Jupiter Jones, the daughter of an astronomer and the strongest woman she had ever known, would have been utterly focused on exploring the alien world around her, had she not known what that sand was.  She had seen it before; the man she loved had explained it in his solemn, gravelly voice, the only hint of his concern for her a slight upturn to his eyebrows; she couldn't see his eyes because hers were swimming.  The sand that she could not avoid stepping on and in was all that remained of the population of this planet; literally, dust had gone to dust again.  Jupiter put her hand to her face for the second time in moments, trying in vain to stem the flow of tears rolling fatly down her face and plopping into the dust.

"Your Majesty."  The splice's voice rumbled lowly next to her, ever cautious but even more so now--warning her--and Jupiter tried to compose herself enough to look up at him, sniffling a little. 

"I'm fine," she said brokenly, even as a large, warm hand descended onto her shoulder.  Splices of certain breeds literally "ran hot," he'd explained, but Caine Wise was clearly warmed by some inner light and not just his mixed blood.  Even his words had the power to warm her.  Even his scent.  In a world--and more recently, a galaxy--that was inherently unsafe for her, if Caine was near, nothing would touch her.

 "I know," Caine said now, gently.  Not  _I know you're okay_ but  _I know you are not and we will discuss it later_.  "But there's something coming."  He looked up and pointed with his binoculars to the horizon, and Jupiter squinted into her own.

 Smoke.

 "There's someone...alive?"  Jupiter looked up at Caine in confusion and hope, but he shook his head sharply, hating how the action made her shoulders slump.  

 "Nothing survives a harvest, Majesty.  The planet is dead.  Or should be."  Caine's eyes narrowed in thoughtful suspicion.  "We should go back to the ship.  Now."

 "Caine!  We have to see who's here.  They could be in trouble."  Jupiter started forward, but Caine's hand on her shoulder pulled her back and around to face him.

 "Majesty.  Jupiter.  It's too-"

 "-Dangerous.  Go back to the ship, then."  

 Caine glowered at Jupiter and she glared back.  She was the peak of willful stubbornness and he often swore that she would be the end of him, but honestly he wouldn't have had her any other way, except perhaps at times like this.

 "You know I can't do that."  His hand slid down her arm to tangle their fingers together.

 "I know."  Jupiter smiled at him for the first time since they had entered the planet's system, and Caine could almost forgive the danger they were stumbling into just for that brief flash of something other than grief.  " Let's go."  

 Just like that, Caine allowed her to tug him on, toward the rising cloud of smoke.


	3. Force Bond Testing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Well, it seems that everyone on the Jedi's ship is all right, but where has sweet little Obi-Wan ended up? D: Thanks for everyone who is still with me! Now that school is done (I'm a college graduate, hooray!), I have a lot more time to devote to fic, and this one is definitely going places! ^_^ Reads are wonderful, kudos give clear skin, and comments are life! <3

Qui-Gon grunted as he woke, shifting and furrowing his brows against the bright light hitting his lids.  He squinted them open, foggily testing his body.  All seemed well, minus a few scrapes, and a the circulation was being cut off in his left knee.  When he looked, he saw that a part of the hull had come up to wrap around his leg, pinning it awkwardly to the side.

A part of the hull which had formerly been underneath his padawan.

In his place was a gaping, jagged hole in the wall, which ran up and obliterated the whole ceiling. 

"Obi-Wan?"  The Jedi Master struggled to sit up straighter, holding his breath as he shifted, a multitude of small pains calling his attention to various body parts.  Still, so far, nothing serious.  The fact of his missing padawan was putting all else out of his mind, and he struggled to center himself in the Force, closing his eyes and taking in a deep breath, calming.  Focusing.

A thin, shaky strand of light was tenuously stretched though the Force.  One end centered in his chest, in the center of his ribcage, nestled right next to his heart.  And though it was a very new Bond, an infant Bond really, still Qui-Gon could tell: his Padawan was alive.  Possibly unconscious, certainly in pain, but absolutely alive, for now.  And that, really, was all Qui-Gon needed to know.

A quick slice with his lightsaber and a push with the Force had his leg freed and the impact straps falling away, and Qui-Gon was standing, striding through the hole that had once been the seat next to him.  The ceiling was located behind them in the trench in the dirt that showed where they had skid across the ground, a building and bridge behind them slightly askew from the impact and effort of ripping the ceiling off of the ship.   _Obi-Wan **must** be around here, somewhere._

 Four life signatures beckoned from the cockpit--the pilot, co-pilot, and two other crew members.  Qui-Gon peered through the glass and saw them wave, relieved, then point to the door behind them.   _Jammed_ , they mouthed.  Qui-Gon nodded and activated his lightsaber.

 "Thank you, Master Jinn," a relieved captain said a few minutes later, sucking in unfiltered air.  "We were worried that you were..."

 "I am fine," Qui-Gon assured the captain, "but my padawan may not be.  I need your men to form a search pattern and look for him."  He peered up at the purple-tinged blueness overhead.  "Return to the ship before nightfall."

 "Where are you going?" the captain protested, reacting as Qui-Gon turned away.  "Surely-"

 "I am going to find my padawan," the Jedi said, calm yet firm and with no room for argument, a nearly-deadly seriousness lurking in his voice.  "And I will return when I have found him."  

 With that, he began to trudge up the hill, following the trench that had been carved by the ship's passing, robes swishing behind him.


	4. A Life where No Life should Be

"What's that?"

They had been trekking for a matter of an hour or so, the dark plume of smoke fading in the wind but still present and pungent in Caine's nose, and his head snapped up in order to take in whatever had Jupiter touching his arm.

She was pointing to a clearing, where some shards of darkship glittered in the light, and amidst them all...

"A boy?"

And then Jupiter was running forward, her heart in her throat, because there was a  _person,_ a real and honest  _person,_ surrounded by death and silently empty structures and that damning, softly-twinkling blue sand, and she prayed as she ran that he was all right, that nothing was wrong with him;  _please don't let him be dead, please let this one be alive._

"Jupiter!" Caine was yelling, running after her, but she didn't care to slow.  Approaching the stranger, she saw him more clearly, and her better look at him caused her brow to furrow in confusion.  He was wearing clothes that looked very strange, loose and flowing and utterly unlike any of the spacegear she had seen since she became the owner of a planet; yet, according to all the bits of what certainly  _looked_ like ship parts scattered around him and the straps holding him firmly in his seat, he had definitely come from the sky.

"Caine!"

Caine was there already, having arrived moments after her, blowing heavily in a way that told her he wasn't winded, but scenting the stranger.

"He is...different, Your Majesty," Caine said, hesitating on the unknown, and Jupiter's heart sank into her gut at the formality.  "And bleeding, badly."

The boy--only a handful of years younger than Jupiter herself--groaned softly, and shifted, and as his head moved so that he faced them, Jupiter saw the gash running down his face, his throat, blood on his cream-colored tunic already drying and looking sticky in the light.

"We have to get him back to the ship."

That had alarm bells ringing in Caine's head.  "I don't think that is a good idea," he began, but Jupiter cut him off.

"He's bleeding, Caine!  He could die!"  She was kneeling already, slicing through the restraining straps with the knife Caine had given her.  "We have to help!"

"Your Majesty..."  Caine hesitated.  "He's..."

Jupiter looked up, dark brown eyes burning.

Caine bit the metaphorical bullet, straightening up.  "He's too far gone, unless we use Regenex.  The wound will kill him unless we do."

Jupiter's teeth were gritting together.  "You mean that to save him we have to use the thing that..."  A muscle in her jaw gave a tic as she lowered one hand to the blue sands beneath them.  She was pausing, obviously suck.

"We don't have to do anything," Caine said gently, kneeling down across from her, ducking to meet her gaze.  "But it's his only hope."

One beat of Caine's heart--two--and Jupiter was nodding, determined once more.  "Fine.  Let's go."  She bent and sawed through the last strap viciously, throwing it away.  "Can you...?"

Caine Wise was already gathering the small human into his arms, careful, standing.  "Let's go," he echoed, eyes on Jupiter.  "Tell the ship to meet us on the other side of those buildings."  He nodded in Jupiter's direction, the way they had come, and Jupiter numbly pulled the comm out of her pocket, standing too, following after Caine blindly as she called up the ship; he was already about twenty yards ahead of her, the farthest he typically went from her side.

Even so, it was Caine who heard the creaking first.

"Jupiter?" he asked, pausing, turning, a tentative question, and he saw confusion in her eyes just as he saw the archway to her left begin to fall.

"Jupiter!"  Caine was running, flying, churning the sand under his feet to get back to her, feeling as if he could just get to her, get under the building, he would hold it up with his bare hands if it meant keeping Jupiter alive.

Jupiter Jones looked up, and saw her death coming for her, eyes widening, rooted to the spot for just a moment before turning, beginning to run the way she had come, the shorter path to safety, and the last Caine saw of her was a tripping step, suspended as if held by some invisible hand, everything in slow motion, before the bridge came down with a _screech_ and a  **crash** , shaking the ground under his feet and sending a blue cloud of dust into the air.

"Jupiter!" Caine yelled, still running, bouncing a mere heartbeat later off of solid metal, his call met by silence.

"Jupiter!"


	5. Introductions

Qui-Gon Jinn let the woman down to the ground, ever so gently, from his place atop the hill.  With his other hand, he released the man who had been running toward her, breathing deeply in relief when he was able to.  Both were uninjured as far as he could tell, thank the Force, but holding one human at bay and tugging the other through the air had been far more taxing than it should have been.  Something was very wrong on this planet.

Peering over the edge of the hill, he sighed.  There was no good way down, the whole thing quite steep with no good handholds.  Using the Force to keep his balance, he stepped forward and slid--carefully--down the crest of the hill, leg twinging slightly as the coarse blue sands made a soft hissing sound.  His eyes didn't leave the woman, laying just inside the blue cloud of dust.  Her coughing echoed through the too-still air.

When he reached the bottom of the hill, Qui-Gon half-jogged the distance to her, the fastest he could move with his leg flaring soft stabs of pain at him; he would have to go into a meditation soon if he wanted to get anything done in a timely manner, but first he had to find his padawan.  Everything else could wait.

The woman, perhaps a handful of years older than Obi-Wan, was moving as he drew near, sitting up, the back of her hand up to her mouth as her coughing slowed.  He could see now that she had dark brown eyes (watering slightly), that she was wearing what looked like basic spacer gear (dark and mostly tight, some kind of temperature-regulating suit); almost certainly from off-planet.  In the Force, she felt firm and fierce, yet kind, and something about that reminded him of Master Plo Koon, a reassuring presence.

He crouched in front of her and offered a hand and a gentle smile.

Though she eyed him through watery and suspicious eyes, the woman took both.

* * *

 

The stranger pulled Jupiter to her feet and took a step backward as soon as she had her feet, digging into a pouch on his belt with his free hand.  Her coughing spell abating, she watched him warily as he pulled out a tennis-ball sized silicone orb with some kind of fasten on the top, tears still in her stinging eyes.

"It's water," the stranger said softly, motioning with the bulb.  Jupiter spared it a glance, then examined him again.  His eyes were a blue-green, and were framed by the kind of wrinkles that are left by a multitude of smiles, built up over a lifetime.  In addition, he was wearing the same kind of clothing as the boy she and Caine had found, and whatever the liquid in the sphere he held was, it certainly  _looked_ like water.

She took the bulb, and after a moment's confusion, saw that the top was like a medicine bottle.  She peered into the odd receptacle.

It  _smelled_ like water, she confirmed with a sniff.  A low chuckle from the man in front of her, who had crossed his arms so as to stick his hands in the opposite sleeves in front of him.

Jupiter took a drink, and the irritation in her throat cooled, granting blessed, soothing relief.  She didn't breathe, instead sucking the water down eagerly.

"My name is Qui-Gon Jinn," the man said, seeming pleased at Jupiter's enthusiastic draining of the bulb.  "I am looking for a friend of mine; perhaps you have seen him?"

Jupiter nodded, finally feeling sated, breathing slightly heavily.  "If he was wearing those same kind of clothes, then yeah."  She paused, eyes skating over the man's long brown hair and beard.  "His hair was cut short, though."

Relief broke over the stranger's face, clear as a cloudless spring sky.  "Yes, that would have been him.  Where is he now, do you know?"  He took a small step forward, clearly anxious to find his...friend.  Jupiter considered; there was quite an age difference.  Father and son, perhaps?

Either way, Jupiter felt a gnawing worry in her gut.  "He's with Caine, but..."  She hesitantly turned toward giant slab of metal and glass behind her, fear spiking through her.  "He..."

"He is safe."  

Jupiter frowned and looked up to where the stranger--Qui-Gon--was, beside her.  

"You can't know that."

"Yes, I can."  Qui-Gon smiled down at her, and Jupiter didn't feel condescended to, but reassured.  "I did not let him get under the structure as it fell.  I had my hands full with the two of you, on this planet, but..."  His eyes seemed to cloud over for a moment, worry pinching his eyebrows together before some greater sense of peace smoothed them out again.  "He is quite all right."

Jupiter narrowed her eyes slightly.  This guy was crazy.  Wasn't that just her luck?  She sighed and looked at the fallen structure, wondering.  

"Come," Qui-Gon said.  "We should attempt to find a way around this and return you to your ship."  He turned and headed to the left, away from the hill to their right, and Jupiter reached out to touch metal once more.

 _We're coming, Caine,_ she promised, wishing that he could hear her.

She turned and followed Qui-Gon into the mazework of the city.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To be honest, I wasn't entirely sure how to write a split perspective when it was Jup/Caine and Obi/Qui, so this chapter was hell, aha. :') I hope this reads all right!


	6. Duty vs. Heart

Caine bounced against solid metal, nearly losing his grip on the unconscious young man as he staggered back, barely keeping his feet.  The blue sand had flown up in a cloud, and was settling into his eyes.  He sucked in a breath and shouted, her name lost in the reverberation of the crash.

"Jupiter!"

He was coughing, eyes watering, struggling to suck in breath in the blue cloud.  

"Jupiter!"

Panting, heartbeat pounding in his ears, he struggled to keep a grip on himself.  The thought that Jupiter had been under the structure when it fell, that she was...he fought to breathe.

A soft sound from his arms.

Old habits had him shifting, drawing a cloth out of his belt and carefully covering the young man in his arms, to prevent more dust from settling into his wounds.  His focus shifted slightly.  He had someone, someone to protect, someone that Jupiter had asked him to help.

 _Get back to the ship,_ his instincts said,  _get help, supplies, heal the stranger._   _It's what she wants, she ordered you._   _ **She ordered you.**_

And no matter how much he hated that thought, the thought that was telling him to turn away from where he stood staring at steel and shattered glass, eyes watering and gritty...Jupiter had wanted this.  She wanted the boy nestled in Caine's arms to live.

His head fell forward, resting with a gentle  _thud_ against a beam.

"I am coming to find you," he promised in a whisper.  "Be alive.   _ **Please.**_ I am coming to find you."

He turned and began walking, slowly at first and then more quickly, with purpose.  

His blood continued to roar in his ears, heart rate as high as a skyjacker's boots.

* * *

Obi-Wan Kenobi was having some trouble breathing.

He noticed it in a detached way at first, shifting against something tough and firm, sucking in a painful breath at the sharp stab in his chest.  It seemed that there was something in his throat, and he coughed, ears popping with the motion.  Whatever he was cradled in was shifting from side to side, and it was a familiar motion, but Obi-Wan couldn't place it.

"-treatment," someone was saying, a woman somewhere above him.

"Fine," someone with a deep thick voice that did not sound like his Master's snapped, a synchronized rumble running through the surface where Obi-Wan's less-injured cheek was pressed, "but I have to go and find Jupiter!"

"You," the woman's voice was saying sternly, "have to _wait_  and see if this young man can provide information.  If somehow there are survivors on the planet..."

" _Nothing survives a harvest,"_ the thick voice said, a low growl in it.  "The whole planet is **dead.** "

Obi-Wan shifted then, trying to speak, but a ragged pain ran through his chest, his throat, his face, and stopped him from opening his mouth more than an inch or two.  A soft whine sounded close to him.

Suddenly, the motion stopped, and Obi-Wan felt eyes on him.

"He's awake," the male voice was saying, and Obi-Wan felt himself turned sharply.  A door whished open somewhere and the singular scent of a sterile area hit Obi-Wan's nose.

"Can you hear us?" the female voice was saying.  Obi-Wan let his head rise and fall approximately one millimeter, feeling like he was coming out of a deep sleep.  Where was he?  Where was Qui-Gon?  His heart felt like it was being squeezed in his chest and he tried to stay calm.

"It's going to be all right."  The female voice was still talking and Obi-Wan felt whatever was carrying him--arms?--shift, jostling him.  Another whine as pain ran through his chest; it came from his own throat, he noticed, feeling something solid and flat beneath him as the arms (they were definitely arms) put him down.

"How is he?" the male voice was asking someone, demanding information.  An oddly precise, tinkling voice answered.

"His injuries," she said, "are severe, but they can of course be mended with RegeneX."

"Then use it."

"You know the Queen's orders," the first female voice snapped. "Not without consent."

"Then get it!"

"Do you consent to be healed with RegeneX?" the precise voice was already asking, a gentle touch on his shoulder letting him know who was being asked.  Obi-Wan's eyebrows furrowed as he worked to pry his jaws open.

"What...?" he managed to croak, throat feeling suddenly dry and gritty.  Taste was coming back to him; iron.  Blood.  The room was becoming thick, too, with conflict; irritation, exasperation, impatience, all were running wild in a soup of bad feelings.

"He doesn't know what it is," the first female said, dawning horror in her voice.  Obi-Wan struggled to open his eyes; they were heavy, and one seemed glued shut.  "He doesn't know what RegeneX is."

"Does that matter?"

"It violates the idea of consent, Mr. Wise!"  Her voice was rising to shouting levels, and Obi-Wan shrank into the bed.

"She wanted him healed!"

"She isn't here!"

The male made to speak, then stopped dead; Obi-Wan managed to open his left eye, squinting against overhead lights.  He was in a ship, somewhere; he slowly looked to his side to see a dark-skinned woman with her hand held up in a signal to stop, glowering at a small mountain of a man.  The woman's chest heaved slightly, and Obi-Wan could see and feel her struggle to restrain herself.

"She isn't.  Here," the dark-skinned woman snapped, keeping eye contact.  Now that Obi-Wan could see her, he could feel that she was absolutely in charge, no matter how much the large pale man in front of her currently wished otherwise.  "So I will be holding to her last orders to me."

"She told me to bring him here."  The large man's voice was full of tact: a gentle plea.  His eyes were full of prayer.  "I left her out there, please.  Please heal him."  The woman before him didn't budge, only slowly lowered her hand.   _"Please."_

The woman sighed, and turned to look down at Obi-Wan, obviously surprised to find an eye open.  She turned fully to face him, looking very concerned.

She spun too quickly.  Obi-Wan felt dizzy, like he might be ill.

"The shock is wearing off," the third voice said softly.  "The bloodflow must be stopped.  Please make a decision."

The dark-skinned woman's lips thinned into a hard, thin line.

"Do it," she said softly.  "Treat with RegeneX."  She turned too sharply again, and then she was outside of Obi-Wan's vision, which slowly faded to black.


	7. Late-Night Campfire

Qui-Gon Jinn, Jupiter had to admit, was full of surprises.  

He didn't seem unhinged.  Not, at least, the way that Jupiter had initially thought.  He was warm, and spoke kindly; he was the kind of person you could easily find yourself pouring your heart out to, even if you didn't know him all that well.  He was definitely in a rush to find a way to Jupiter's ship; they had been setting a hard and steady pace all day, despite his limp from what looked like a twisted leg.  But then, thinking of the condition his young friend was in...Jupiter frowned into the fire, huddling against the dark and the cold, lifting her steaming drink up to her lips.  It smelled like cinnamon and tasted like dark chocolate with a hint of spice and salt.   _Forrel,_ Caine had called it when he'd recommended it to her; a kind of tea that had been specially created for the Skyjackers.

Qui-Gon, seated on the other side of the fire, smiled from above the rim of his own shallow cup.  "Thank you again," he said, his voice a gentle rumble.  "It was kind of you to share."

Jupiter, slightly uncomfortable with his intense eyes resting on her, squirmed a little and smiled.  "It was nothing," she said, "besides, you brought the fire, so really..."  Her smile grew and she blew on her drink.  "Water, fire starter...what else do you have in that utility belt of yours?  Batarang?"  She took a sip and hummed at the taste.

Qui-Gon chuckled and bowed his head slightly, accepting the reciprocated thank-you and the tease.  "Jedi carry many field survival items.  I have water purification tablets; if we find ourselves underwater, I have an aquabreather, should it come to that."

"Mmm."  Jupiter shook her head, swallowing the dregs of her forrel, eyebrows furrowing.  "We'll be back at my ship by tomorrow morning."

"That's good."  Qui-Gon's eyes were locked with hers suddenly.  "I am eager to see my Padawan again."

"Mmmm."  Jupiter decided to chase the last drop of her drink around the bottom of her cup.  She'd been avoiding the condition of his friend, his...Padawan...all night.  She wasn't sure how he was doing.  Had he made it back to the ship?  "What does that word mean, again?"

"A Padawan is a learner, taken by a Jedi Knight or Master to study directly under them," Qui-Gon explained patiently.  He had the air of a really good teacher; Jupiter thought that anyone would be lucky to have a teacher like him.  "There are many trials associated with becoming a Padawan learner; some younglings do not make it to this stage."

"And a youngling, you said, is..."  Jupiter thought hard for a moment, scooting a little closer to the fire as she recalled their sparse conversation as they had walked.  "...the word for any child, right?"

"Any life-form which is not an adolescent or of age," Qui-Gon agreed, "yes.  Though a newborn would be called as such; we also use the term  _infant_ , but only for a short period of time.  Because there are so many different life-forms that mature at different rates, 'youngling' is the most concise way to convey the meaning."

"Why don't some make it?"

"The trials," Qui-Gon said after a moment, "are rigorous, and at the end of them each Jedi Knight or Master seeking to tutor or mentor a young one selects the student they feel is right for them."

"What does that mean, 'right for them'?" Jupiter asked, confused slightly.  "Is it someone who matches you, or who feels good...?"

"The Force guides us in all things."  Qui-Gon nodded thoughtfully.  "I might choose a Padawan because I think we will work well together, that is true, or I may choose one who appears to need my point of view in their life, or one who simply speaks to me in their words or actions.  There is no one criteria, and no two Master-Padawan bonds are the same.  I took Obi-Wan as my learner because I was drawn to him; we balance each other in ways that were needed."  He gave a rueful smile.  "There is not a good way to explain it unless you have felt it yourself.  It is an utterly unique feeling."

Jupiter nodded, trying to wrap her head around it all.  She shivered again, cursing the short sleeves on her spacer gear.  It was getting chilly and only part of that was due to the actual temperature; she knew the planet was empty, but she swore she could hear voices in the night.  The hairs on her neck stood up.

"Okay," she said slowly, wrestling her attention back to Qui-Gon.  "And the Force is, again...?"

* * *

Qui-Gon chuckled again at Jupiter's curiosity, even if it did leave him quietly unsettled.  Their whole day of walking and brief rests for a drink of water, sometimes a question, had left him feeling in no uncertain terms that the young woman had never heard of the Jedi, nor of the Jedi Order.  She didn't know anything about the Force, and she clearly didn't quite believe him when he spoke of his connection to it, its power.

That did not stop her from asking questions.

He was glad of them, certainly; they helped to keep his mind off of Obi-Wan, who he could tell was still alive but had been suffering for many hours.  He gazed off, into the direction they had been traveling until he called for a rest for the night.  The Force Bond between them trembled; Obi-Wan was frightened, in pain, and that meant Qui-Gon was as well.

"Qui-Gon?"

The Jedi Master jumped slightly and turned, his smile rueful.  She'd caught him.

"I am sorry.  I should be more mindful."

The young woman waved it off, brown eyes sharp despite the casual gesture.

"It's fine," she assured him with a small smile.  A yawn fought its way out of her mouth and she laughed in it, the sound distorted by the wideness of her mouth.  "Should probably get some sleep anyway."  She peeked over her shoulder into the darkness, shivering.  "This place gives me the creeps though."

"The planet is dying," Qui-Gon reminded her gently.  "There is nothing out there.  Even the plants are entering decay."  Worry crept its way into his voice as he spoke.  What had happened here?

"I know," Jupiter said.  Then, more faintly, "That's what creeps me out."  Her uneasiness was why they hadn't entered any of the buildings around them; most of them seemed to be office buildings in the first place, not homes with anything valuable to loot, but Qui-Gon had to agree; the planet was very unsettling.

"I will stand watch," Qui-Gon offered.  "So that we may sleep more easily."  He didn't plan to sleep fully in either case; he needed to enter meditation and heal his leg, which had been worsened by the day's walk.  Still, that would rest him all he would need to collect Obi-Wan.

"Then you won't sleep."  Jupiter shook her head.  "Don't worry about it."  She stretched, setting her cup aside, and began to settle onto her side, clearly intending to sleep.  She curled a little, eyes on the flames.  She had another question to ask him, he could tell, but she had been keeping it trapped behind her rib cadge most of the day.  It fluttered against the back of her lips now, and she bit one of them as if trying to restrain it.  Qui-Gon tilted his head, waiting.

 "Okay, look."  Jupiter sat back up suddenly and Qui-Gon smiled, amused.  "I'm not trying to be nosy or anything but...you say all these words, and you talk about all these places and other races and space travel, and I've never heard of any of them, so how are you...I don't know if you're crazy or not, but if you aren't then how are you getting back to where you came from after all of this is done?"

A laugh escaped Qui-Gon, surprised out of him.  "I am not crazy," he assured her, "though I can understand how you would think that way.  It is a very rare planet indeed that has not heard of the Jedi, and rarer that has not heard of the Force."  He paused, sighing as he realized what he had been wondering all along.  "We seem to have crossed some barrier; something about this planet is not what it seems to be.  The Force has been trying to tell me since we arrived, but..."  He trailed off, smiling ruefully.  "I have not been able to decipher the message."

"I see."  The young woman looked down, staring at the ground.  Jupiter thought, her eyebrows furrowed, and Qui-Gon waited, coaching himself to be patient.

She clearly had decided something when she looked up again.

"It's a very long story," she said slowly.  Her tone, and a sampling of the upset generated by her thoughts, had a similar unease settling into Qui-Gon's gut like a stone.  "And it's not..."  She ran her hands absentmindedly through the peculiar blue sand she sat on.  

"It is an unhappy one," Qui-Gon guessed, the feeling becoming heavier, more real.  He took a deep breath, and closed his eyes, trying to clear his mind.   _One with the Force._ _One with the Force._  He could sense her own upset and hesitation.  A tense silence formed between them, tenuous and pulled tight, ready to snap.

Qui-Gon exhaled, slowly.

"Then we will talk about it in the morning."  He didn't need to open his eyes to sense her relief.  "You are right; we should rest, and wake early.  I am sure your crew misses you."  A soft laugh and the grinding of sand under pressure from her direction had him opening his eyes; she was already laying down again, clearly very tired.

Well, he supposed, feeling her consciousness recede into the calm state that was sleep, that was reasonable.  It had been a busy day.

A cool wind blew, causing their fire to dance.

After a matter of minutes--ten? fifteen?--Qui-Gon stood to stretch, shedding his outer cloak and carefully settling it over Jupiter's sleeping form.  He smiled, briefly, at her small figure, dwarfed by his cloak, before turning to look in the direction that his infant Force Bond led.

_I will be with you soon, Obi-Wan._ _I promise._

Qui-Gon walked around the fire for a few paces, returned to his seat, and closed his eyes as he stepped willingly into the Force.


End file.
